Ministry launches clean up campaign

YESTERDAY marked the launch of the official anti-dengue clean up campaign by the Ministry of Health, following the recent confirmation of dengue cases.

This after the Ministry of Health confirmed that there were 904 confirmed cases of dengue fever in the country.

National adviser, communicable diseases Dr Mike Kama yesterday said the ministry had declared an outbreak in localities in the Central Division after the initial spike in dengue cases.

"Ministry of Health's Dengue Taskforce, after one week of monitoring, declared the dengue situation as an outbreak which was localised within localities that come under the Suva Sub-divisional Health boundaries of the ministry," Dr Kama said.

But Dr Kama explained this was not a national outbreak, although the Western and Northern Health divisions were on dengue alert status.

Ministry of Health permanent secretary Dr Metuisela Tuicakau said of the 904 cases recorded the majority was from the Central Division.

"In this official launch of the anti-dengue clean-up campaign, our main focus is to reduce mosquito breeding places, dengue fever is considered an air-borne disease in tropical places in the world," Dr Tuicakau said.

"Today, there are 904 confirmed cases of dengue fever, of these, 766 cases in the central, 101 from the western and 37 from the north," he continued.

"The new strain three of the mosquito-borne infection poses a particular threat as people have lesser or no tolerance to the disease, unlike the more common strain one."

Central Division regional health inspector Vitale Varo said the ministry had identified high risk areas in the Central Division.